Irak

Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday failed for a third time to elect a new national president for lack of a quorum, officials said, prolonging the war-scarred country's political crisis.

The Islamic State group (IS) seems to have been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Public attention in the West has waned, and the priorities of the international community shifted to other issues. This warrants taking stock of the group’s current status and assessing the dangers it still poses, argues Fabien Merz in this CSS Analysis.

Political leaders in Iraq must urgently overcome their divisions and work for the good of the people, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday. Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert reported that four months after parliamentary elections, politicians still struggle to form a government.  

Iraqi lawmakers failed to elect a new president on Monday, prolonging a political standoff.

[…] According to news reports, Turkish warplanes struck suspected Kurdish insurgent positions in Iraq and Syria early on Wednesday, killing at least four people. 

Attacks this week underscore the challenges to forming a government away from ethno-sectarian power-sharing arrangement.

[…] The chaotic meeting ushers in what is likely to be a lengthy period of political wrangling among rival groups to choose a new president and prime minister.

The Iraqi armed forces mark their 101st anniversary on Thursday while embarking on a new chapter in their tumultuous history after the United States formally concluded its combat mission in Iraq on December 31, 2021.

The 2,500 troops currently in the country will remain to "advise, assist and enable" Iraqi security forces, at the government's invitation. The coalition expressed confidence that the partnership would ensure IS did not reconstitute and threaten Iraqis.